Donate Give Monthly

Menu

Donate Give Monthly


Email SignUp

Stay connected and receive updates from Opportunity International Australia.

Follow Us

Search


PO Box A524
Sydney South NSW 1235, Level 11, 227 Elizabeth Street Sydney NSW 2000

Telephone: 1800 812 164

© 2024 Opportunity International AustraliaABN 83 003 805 043

Facing Up To Typhoon Koppu

By Benjamin Freeman

In my time working with Opportunity International Australia, I’ve written about a number of natural disasters and their effects on people with loans. After just one week back in the Philippines, I experienced one firsthand.

On Saturday I left with two friends and travelled from Manila to Baler, a small coastal town on the east of Luzon Island. We had warning that a storm was coming, but it was expected that the storm would hit Saturday afternoon and be relatively clear from Sunday afternoon onwards. With this in mind and armed with a pretty exciting surf report, we set off.

We left Manila at 4am. It was a clear morning and there was no sign of wind or dangerous conditions. We felt confident. When we arrived in Baler about seven hours later an email appeared on my phone. It was from the hotel advising us not travel to Baler given that the storm had now been upgraded to a typhoon and was predicted to hit Baler first.

When we got to the hotel, we signed a waiver that said that we understood a typhoon was coming and that we were aware that there was also likely to be a storm surge of about five metres that would hit the hotel.

The wind was relatively still and there was little rain. To be honest I didn’t take much of it too seriously. In Sydney when we’ve been warned about serious weather conditions I’ve found they’re typically hyped up and rarely deliver.

That night the rain grew heavier and the wind became audible. We had dinner and then went back to the hotel room. Still none of us were too worried – the electricity was on and we had Wi-Fi so we didn’t feel it could get too bad.

At about 2am on Sunday morning I woke up to the sound of a sheet metal roof being blown down the street. The wind was so strong that doors everywhere were flying open and slamming shut and the rain had begun to flood our room, which was on the second floor. I opened the front door to try and pick up our thongs from the balcony but it quickly flew shut in my face. Our glass windows were shaking. Later we found out that the wind had reached almost 200 kilometres an hour.

I returned to bed and sat there. It was then it hit me that I had absolutely no control of the situation I was currently in. There was no way we could escape what was around us and there was no guarantee of when it would end. It was a type of fear that I had never felt before.

In the morning the wind had dropped off slightly, though it was still much stronger than any wind I have ever felt in Australia. We left our hotel room and walked down the beach. It was carnage. The side of our hotel had been completely blown off, trees and electric wires were down and most houses in the village had been completely flattened as well as flooded. Some houses lay on their side on the walkway to the beach.

Amongst the destruction were people from the village. Having felt what I had the previous night, it’s difficult to imagine just what they themselves felt during the night, aware that not only were they in danger but also that their houses and belongings were almost certainly about to be ruined. Somehow, as they literally picked up the pieces of their houses, they still smiled at us and greeted us with the familiar, “Hello Joe.”

The heavy rain and wind continued for another 12 hours until Sunday afternoon. On Monday morning we were advised that there had been landslides in the mountains and no one could get in or out of Baler. We went for a drive around the town and saw just how extensive the damage and flooding was. All the shops were without electricity and many were locked up. The town was now in lock down with a finite amount of supplies. It was eerie in so many ways.

By Tuesday the weather had cleared even more but the roads were still blocked – it looked like we wouldn’t be able to leave Baler until Wednesday. This didn’t concern us too much; it felt unbelievable to be a part of something like this, to see the strength of human spirit in action. We drove around the town more, speaking with people and getting a better idea of the damage. I began to feel better about the situation. In a way it was uplifting to see how everyone was coming together.

It was Wednesday afternoon when I was given a huge jolt back to reality. My friend Macoy came to pick us up and when he arrived he showed us photos of his home on his phone. In his village just outside Cabanatuan City, his home had flooded to about four feet. His family has evacuated but he had stayed in the home to save whatever appliances he could. This meant he spent 24 hours on a bench top, the only place in his house that stood about the four foot of water that had taken over his house.

All of Macoy’s clothes, appliances and his children’s school books were completely ruined. He said this with a smile and a laugh and it tore my heart. He was just one of many in his village who faced these conditions. He’s just one of many that we can continue to stand by as they rebuild their homes, businesses and lives.

To keep up-to-date with Ben's 'Notes from the Road', follow Opportunity on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Stay in Touch